For The Rest Of Our Lives
by hoffkk
Summary: It's been a long time coming, but Lucas finally has his moment, and Riley will never forget it... ever.


"So, where are we headed next?" Riley asked her best friend, Maya, admiring her new manicure as they walked down the street. They had just spent the last hour or so getting their nails done. Riley got hers painted bright purple with silver sparkles, while Maya got hers done jet black with a gold crackle design overtop.

"You'll see." Maya teased, threading her arm through her friend's.

"Is it a surprise?" Riley said excitedly. "I love surprises!"

"Something like that." Maya smirked.

"Yay!" Riley beamed, as they rounded the corner and headed toward the subway station. It was late spring, so the weather was warming up. Riley relished the feel of the warm sun, interrupted every few minutes by a slight cool breeze that would blow through her hair, which was half pulled up and hanging in long waves down her back. The small wind gusts also rustled the flared skirt of the flirty purple dress that she wore with a black cropped officer jacket and matching black heels decked out with buckles and rhinestones in a classy, stylish way. Maya helped her pick out the outfit, telling her she needed to wear something special for a special day. If only Riley could figure out why it was so special. Much to her dismay, Maya wouldn't tell her anything except that she'd find out later. So, she just had to wait and let Maya drag her around from place to place until "later" came around.

Once in the subway station, they began making their way toward a particular subway train. Riley noticed that only one door on the train was closed, while all the others remained open for passengers to enter and exit freely. The closed one had a sign on it that read:

 _TEMPORARILY CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE. DO NOT ENTER._

Suddenly, Riley noticed that Maya was leading her right toward the broken door.

"Uh, Maya? I don't think we are allowed to use that door." Riley said.

"Nonsense." Maya waved her off.

"It literally says 'DO NOT ENTER' and the whole thing is capitalized...CAPITALIZED, Maya! I'm pretty sure they mean business." Riley protested.

"Yes, but you're missing the fine print underneath that says 'come on in Riley and Maya. This train car is all yours!" Maya told her matter-of-factly.

"It doesn't say that." Riley said, knowing her friend was just being silly. "And I rather not get in trouble. Getting arrested is not the surprise I had in mind for today."

"Trust me, Riles. You are gonna want to go through that door." Maya assured her.

"Why don't we just use the one down here..." Riley trailed off, pulling her friend in the direction of another door.

Breaking her arm from Riley's hold, Maya walked slowly backward in the other direction, messing around with the curls at the end of her long blonde hair as she danced and sang, "I. Can't. Hear. You. Ba-da-da-dada-da!" After finishing her little tune, Maya turned around and dashed off toward the broken door, pried it open, and slipped inside.

"Maya, wait!" Riley called after her. "I can't run in heels! Maya?!"

Realizing that her friend wasn't coming back and that she better go after her, Riley let out a sigh and mumbled, "Oh, boy." then started to follow in an awkward trot motion. The whole time Riley made her way to the train car, she was annoyed yet trying not to laugh. Even though they were 24 years old, it was times like these that made her feel 14 again with Maya acting rebellious and getting them into trouble and her trying to be the good girl and get them out of trouble. She actually missed their crazy antics. They were few and far between these days with her living with Lucas and being busy with her nursing career, while Maya was pretty consumed by her art, Josh, and spending time with her five year-old sister (a one year anniversary surprise for Shawn and Katy - to say the least). Riley couldn't believe how fast the time had flown by and how far they had all come. Well, maybe they haven't come _that_ far if this moment was anything to go by.

Eventually, Riley made it to the door, but struggled to open it. There was only so much she could do without chipping her nails. After peeking to make sure there were no security guards around, she balled her hands into fists and banged on the door. "Maya? Come on, Maya! Let me in! Let me-"

Before she could finish, the door rolled open and Riley stepped inside, letting them close behind her as she stood there confused. Maya was nowhere to be found. The only thing in sight was a trail of red, white, and pink rose petals leading from her feet to the door across the car that led to the next car down. Not knowing what else to do, a curious Riley followed the makeshift pathway and entered the second car.

When the door opened, Riley couldn't believe her eyes. She not only found Maya, but her whole family, including her parents, Lucas's parents, her grandparents, Uncle Josh, Uncle Shawn, Katy, their daughter Jonna, Auggie, Farkle, Smackle, and Zay. They dotted the sides of the small space, the rose petal path flowing between them down to the other end of the car.

"What's going on?" She said aloud to the whole group, completely baffled.

"Why don't you ask _him_..." Maya said, nodding her head in the direction of the flowery trail.

After giving her friend a quizzical look, Riley obliged her friend and took a few more steps down the path. As she did so, her family and friends shuffled around, revealing a dapper looking Lucas, dressed in her favorite navy blue button down with his hair perfectly coiffed, to be sitting in his usual seat at the end, the flowers leading right to him.

"Lucas?" She questioned, coming to stand right in front of him. "What is all this? What's going on?"

Lucas smiled before responding, "I have something that I need to say to you...to ask you...and I want everyone we care about to hear it."

Bells suddenly started to go off in Riley's head. _"Wait a minute...is he...he couldn't be...could he_?" She thought to herself.

Lucas saw Riley's eyes bug out for a quick second and chuckled softly.

"Come here." He said sweetly, reaching out and pulling Riley by the hand to sit in his lap like he has done several times before. She happily complied, looping one arm around his neck and resting the other against his chest. He took her hand in his and pressed her palm over his heart. She could feel it beating rapidly as she gazed into his bright blue eyes and waited for him to continue.

"Riley Matthews... you are easily the single greatest thing to ever happen to me. You support me in everything I do and trust me with your heart and with your life. You always see the best in me, even when I don't always see it myself. You make me want to be a better person, someone worthy enough to be called yours. I love you so much, and I honestly don't know what I would do without you... but I don't plan on ever having to find out because now that I know how amazing and right it feels having you in my life and in arms right here, right now, in front of everyone, I am never letting you go."

Leaving his one arm around her back, Lucas moved his other one, letting go of Riley's hand to fish something out of his pocket. While her hand was free, she quickly wiped away a couple of stray tears that had fallen due to his sweet words.

In a matter of seconds, Lucas removed his hand from his pocket and held it up between Riley and him, displaying a shiny, elegant, two karat princess-cut diamond set in a platinum band with little jewels along the sides. It was breath-taking. Riley couldn't believe her ears or her eyes in this moment. It was just all too much. The tears started all over again as Lucas went on.

"I love you, Riley. Will you stay with me and be mine for the rest of our lives? Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" She answered after taking a moment to catch her breath, then watched him slip the ring on her finger. Once he did so, she grabbed his face between her hands and kissed him like she never kissed him before, pouring her heart and soul into, showing just how much she loved him, their friends and family clapping and cheering in delight as they did so.

She pulled away briefly, rested her forehead against his and whispered, "I love you, too. I love you so much, Lucas."

Lucas's face broke out into an even wider grin and then they kissed again...and again and again, blissfully happy to be in this moment.

When Riley pulled away after the last kiss, she saw a single tear sliding down Lucas's cheek, and wiped it away. She looked deep into his eyes, willing away the tears in hers, and said, "There are some moments you know you're gonna remember forever. This..." She trailed off, gesturing to all their friends and family surrounding them and everything Lucas set up to make this moment perfect. "this is definitely one of them." She finished, looking him in the eye again before giving him another soft kiss then hugging him tightly.

"All right, our turn!" Topanga called out, speaking for the restless crowd that was eager to personally congratulate the happy couple.

Riley giggled and finally removed herself from Lucas's lap. As soon as she stood, she was mobbed by the overseers, as was Lucas, both receiving congratulatory hugs and handshakes. Of course all the ladies made Riley show off her gorgeous ring.

"Celebratory dinner on us!" Lucas's mother announced. "Everyone's invited!"

After settling on a restaurant that was right around the corner, the group started to file out of the subway car. Riley was the last to leave, right behind Lucas. They were walking hand in hand through the doorway when Riley suddenly paused, jerking her new fiancé to a stop.

"Everything okay?" He asked, suddenly worried.

"I'm more than okay, Lucas. _Way_ more." She smiled, giving his hand a little squeeze.

"Me too." He agreed, bringing her hand up to his face and placing a kiss on the top of it.

"I was just wondering... how did you do all this exactly?" She asked.

"Let's just say that I know a guy who knows a guy." Lucas said with a wink.

"Ah." Riley replied.

"So, you really liked my proposal? I mean, the subway idea wasn't too cheesy?"

"Not at all. It was completely and totally perfect."

"Good, that's what I was going for. I figured since this was the first place we met and the first place we kissed, it was only right."

"Huh, I never really thought about it like that, but I guess the subway is sort of our spot." Riley noted, leaning into Lucas and resting her head on his shoulder for a moment.

"So it would seem." Lucas concurred as he brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You know, maybe we should just get married here."

"I wouldn't go that far." Riley hastily rejected the idea. "But in all honesty," She continued as she turned to face him, threading both her hands into his. "it doesn't really matter where we get married... as long as I have you waiting for me at the end of the aisle."

"I couldn't agree more." Lucas said, pressing his forehead to hers, then after second, he gave her yet another kiss. He never got tired of kissing her...ever.

Once they broke apart, Lucas rested his forehead against hers once more and said, "As much as I am enjoying this, we better get going. They're probably wondering where we are."

"You're probably right." She sighed. "To be continued?" Riley asked, quirking a brow.

"For the rest of our lives." He beamed at her, making her smile just as big.

Riley couldn't think of anything to top his sweet words, so she simply said, "I like the sound of that."

"Good." Lucas said, giving her one of his boyish grins.

"Good." Riley repeated. "Come on, let's go eat." She added after a quiet moment of gazing into each other's eyes.

Together they turned and made their way out of the subway station and to the restaurant down the street, walking hand in hand, arm in arm, and heart in heart. Today was the first day of the rest of their lives together, and they couldn't be more excited, especially Lucas. It was a long time coming, but he had finally had his moment.


End file.
